


first meeting

by tsugumii



Category: Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery (Video Game)
Genre: Multi, hope it's okay, i'm clowning i've never wrote a fic before
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-10
Updated: 2019-12-10
Packaged: 2021-02-24 16:40:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,053
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21741085
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tsugumii/pseuds/tsugumii
Summary: “I-I just wanted to be your friend!”, Ollie cried out desperately.Talbott seemed taken aback by the sudden declaration and carefully observed Ollie with his steel, hawk-like gaze.“I don’t know if you noticed, but I don’t do friends, Potter. Much less with somebody of your calibre – being associated with you would just draw so much unnecessary attention.”
Relationships: Talbott Winger/Original Character(s)
Kudos: 9





	first meeting

“Hey, Penny?” **  
**

Penny jerked at the sudden mention of her name. Her cauldron, which was bubbling angrily prior to her being called, started simmering down as she stirred her new concoction with utmost care. Ollie was slouched against the wall of the artefact room looking bored out of his mind. Penny let out a tut of disapproval. If there was one thing she disliked, it was being interrupted when she was in the middle of her intricate potion experimenting sessions.

"What do you need, Ollie? I’m kind of in the middle of brewing this variation of dreamless sleep and not to be rude, but this is advanced Potions work that requires _concentration_.” Her cauldron hissed in disapproval and Penny furrowed her brows in dismay. _The potion was missing something. Oh!_ “Would you mind passing me the crushed snake fangs in the corner, please?”, Penny asked offhandedly as she flickered through the pages of her potions journal.

Ollie scrunched his nose and grabbed a fistful of snake fangs to pass to her, hastily wiping off the residue dust on his robes after Penny reached for them. _Who keeps a potions journal,_ Ollie mused to himself.

“Oh, nothing much…? I was wondering if you’ve heard of this Ravenclaw boy in our year? You know everybody, after all,” Ollie began hopefully. “I was hoping you had some extra intel on him…”

Penny narrowed her eyes and shot Ollie a suspicious look before shifting her focus back to her potion. _Twelve stirs clockwise_ , she made a mental note in her head and began to count the number of stirs.

“You must be talking about Talbott Winger. The quiet boy with the ruby eyes?”

Ollie’s eyes lit up at her description of the Ravenclaw. “Yes! _That’s him_!” Realizing he sounded a tad too enthusiastic, Ollie quickly composed himself so that he would have a more neutral expression. He awkwardly ran a hand through his messy white hair as he tried to look casual. “Right. As I was saying, what do you know of him?”

_Twelve turns done, now, five drops of snake venom_. Penny was struggling to brew this potion whilst upkeeping this conversation, but Ollie’s sudden desire to find out more about Talbott piqued her interest. “Well, he’s a loner. I don’t think it’s best to ask me for his background information, though. Talbott values his _privacy_.” Penny hoped that emphasis on the word privacy would give Ollie the hint to stop prodding deeper. But when Ollie started sulking, Penny couldn’t help but giggle a little.

She looked up to Ollie, arching an eyebrow. "What’s with the sudden interest in him anyway? Tulip and Andre not Ravenclaw enough for you?”, she joked.

Ollie gave her an affronted look before giving a half shrug. “I dunno. I think he’s cool.”

“Cool? How so? I don’t know if you noticed, Ollie, but I think you beat anybody in our year when it comes to coolness by a landslide,” Penny countered. “Ollie Potter, son of the wizarding heroes _Harry Potter_ and _Draco Malfoy_ , well adored by the public as the poster child – born with his father’s eyes that are as _green as a fresh pickled toad_ and _luscious wavy silve_ -“

She blinked when Ollie interrupted her, suddenly exploding emotionally.

“That’s the thing, Penny – _I’m tired of all the unnecessary attention I get_! People glorify me for my looks or for my parents’ achievements, it’s a bit stupid, really. I think it’s bloody brilliant that Talbott can just fade into obscurity like that and not be bothered by anybody. I wish I could do that…” Penny’s expression softened as she reached for Ollie’s hands to give him a reassuring squeeze. “…then maybe I wouldn’t have to spend my free time hiding out in the dusty old artefact room watching you brew some complicated potion.”

Penny was glad she retracted her hand in time.

She glared at Ollie. “Well, nobody forced you to be in here, you know.” Her look of disdain slowly morphed into a look of sympathy as she thought about Talbott. “I think you should try to befriend Talbott, you could learn a thing or two from him about being inconspicuous and avoiding the crowd. And truthfully speaking, I think he needs more friends beside me and Professor McGonagall.”

Ollie looked aghast.

“It’s been half our year and he’s only made _two_ friends?! One of which is a professor? Blimey, that’s depressing. Couldn’t be me,” he murmured.

Penny was so sure that if she rolled her eyes any harder, they would disappear into her eye sockets, never to return.

Ignoring Ollie’s snarky comment, she began absentmindedly chopping up the bat spleens that she needed for last part of the brewing process. “Apologies, Ollie,” she began sarcastically, “Not everybody is as popular as _Saint_ Potter.”

Ollie’s cheeks flushed angrily as he bit back a retort. He had to play nice if he wanted to coax any information out of Penny. “Tell me more about him so I can befriend him better.”

Penny added in the chopped bat spleens. “No. You do it yourself, besides, I’m bus–” _There, fifteen milligrams of bat spleens._

“Just tell me a little b–” _Wait. Was it chopped bat spleens or powdered bat spleens?_

“No Ollie, I already told you to–” _Sweet Merlin, it was powdered bat spleens. Stupid Ollie, with his stupid distracting questions and-_

**BOOM.**

Smoke started billowing wildly from the Artefact Room as both Ollie and Penny coughed violently, desperately swatting the smoke out of their faces. Ollie managed to regain his bearings fast enough to cast an air-freshening charm to clear the smoke and dust in the room. After the surroundings were clear, Penny looked down to her cauldron and let out a cry of dismay – she found it completely melted and the ruined remains of the potion she spent the whole afternoon painstakingly brewing sizzled sadly on the floor; like fire snuffed out of a Hungarian Horntail.

Ollie winced and instinctively backed away for his own safety. _Away from Penny, not the botched potion_ , he thought humorlessly.

“Ollie…”, Penny’s eyes glimmered dangerously, and she gripped the remains of her cauldron tightly. “Can you just leave and go live out your friendship fantasies with Talbott or something? I’ve really got to finish this potion by today and frankly with you around, I don’t see this happening!” she said exasperatedly.

Ollie grimaced and guiltily nodded before leaving the Artefact Room, solemnly promising to himself that he would get Penny a new and much better cauldron as an apology for ruining her potion.

…+++…

Ollie was _pissed_.

He had been in the castle searching high and low for Talbott for the past half hour, and his break was almost over. _Merlin, I knew he was difficult to find, but this is ridiculous,_ Ollie thought miserably to himself. He let out a deep sigh. Perhaps this friendship was never meant to be. Just as Ollie was about to resign to his cruel fate, he caught a glimpse of a head of chestnut-brown hair in the corner of the courtyard.

Talbott!

Ollie’s heart quickened in excitement as he glanced cautiously at Talbott in the courtyard, hiding behind a giant pillar. _Okay, just play it cool_ , he told himself. _Slowly approach and introduce yourself, he’s standing right the_ -

It happened so quickly that whatever just happened barely registered in Ollie’s mind.

Talbott vanished.

There was an eagle in his place.

_Oh._

_Talbott was an Animagus_.

Ollie’s eyes widened as a shocked gasp escaped his lips. The eagle turned its head sharply facing Ollie, before a flurry of feathers and magic swirled around him, with Talbott re-emerging out of it.

“Potter. You were stalking me.” Talbott snarled and he glared at Ollie with cold, unfriendly eyes. Ollie felt his skin turn cold as Talbott walked towards him menacingly.

“I-I…I didn’t mean to!”, Ollie stuttered. He felt his skin pricking with discomfort and somehow, at such a crucial moment, he lacked the words to explain himself.

“Didn’t mean to? What, you just happened to be standing there in a corner looking suspicious?!”

“I-I just wanted to be your _friend_!”, Ollie cried out desperately.

Talbott seemed taken aback by the sudden declaration and carefully observed Ollie with his steel, hawk-like gaze.

“I don’t know if you noticed, but I don’t do _friends_ , Potter. Much less with somebody of your _calibre_ – being associated with you would just draw so much unnecessary attention.”

“I want to be like you,” Ollie blurted out.

“You want to be a social recluse?”, Talbott asked with a look of amusement on his face. He was curious about Ollie – he’s heard so much about him. He heard that Ollie Potter was an arrogant brat who had everything he ever wanted handed to him. He’s heard that Ollie Potter towered above the weak and enjoyed ripping those who dare challenge him to shreds. He’s heard that Ollie Potter used others’ secrets against them and managed to get away with every bad deed he’s done because he’s _Harry Potter’s son._

The boy standing in front of him was nothing like he expected, though.

“I don’t like all the attention,” Ollie said earnestly, breaking Talbott’s train of thought. “I wish I could be like you and blend into the crowd. I just want to be normal… I’m awfully sorry I intruded on whatever you were doing. I didn’t know you were an Animagus; that’s brilliant, honestly! Is that how you get away from large crowds?”

Talbott surveyed Ollie with watchful eyes. For some peculiar reason, he seemed to be _glowing_. He had an untameable mop of natural silver hair, his messy bangs covering most of his forehead, yet just enough to reveal his eyes. His eyes were so _green_. His cheekbones were high, and his features were sharp and refined, yet a hint of feral energy leaking out of him. Talbott slowly began to relax as he realised Ollie wasn’t a threat and not what people at school perceived him to be; he couldn’t sense an ounce of evil from that white-haired mess. Strangely, the longer he seemed to be around him, the calmer he felt.

“Fancy teaching me how to be one too? Maybe I can fly away from the crowd,” Ollie added, laughing softly.

Talbott was jolted back into reality. He felt his ears tinge red upon hearing his laughter, and Ollie somehow seemed to be glowing even more now. _What? It’s not like you hadn’t heard laughing before, Winger. Get a grip!_

Before Talbott could fully come to his senses, he had agreed to teach Ollie how to be an Animagus.

“ _Really?!_ ” Ollie gave Talbott a toothy grin and he stepped forward to give him a big hug – only for Talbott to take a giant step back, resulting in Ollie tumbling onto the floor in front of him. Ollie let out a wince of pain as he rubbed his arms. “Ow, what gives?”

“ _No_ ,” Talbott said firmly as he crossed his arms. “I said I would help you become an Animagus, but I never said that we were friends.”

Talbott couldn’t help but feel a little guilty as the smile slid off from Ollie’s face.

“Well…Do you think there’s ever a chance that we’ll be friends in the future?” Ollie looked up hopefully.

“No, Potter. Well, do you still want my help or not?”

Ollie gave Talbott a mournful look that somewhat resembled a kicked puppy. As though it was some kind of spell, the glowing around him seemed to dim too.

Talbott sighed and shook his head. “Okay, _fine_. Maybe sometime in the future, but not now.”

“It’s a deal! I’ll see you tomorrow then, Talbott, same time same place!” Ollie smiled and brushed past Talbott’s hand with his. “It’s a date!”, he added cheekily before running off for his Charms class.

Talbott’s face flushed a deep red as he gingerly touched the part of his hand that Ollie left his mark on. _Stupid Potter_ , he thought. Talbott hoped that he didn’t make a mistake by befriending him. In retrospect, being friends with _Ollie Potter_ was not the smartest move for somebody who preferred being in the back lines. With a sigh, Talbott retreated into corridors in preparation for his Potions class - he’d certainly have a lot to think about when classes are done today.


End file.
